Lismore Golf Course a potential site for new commercial hub

Lismore Workers Golf Club manager Brad Mott said turning the course into a commercial and residential precinct is ill-advised as the 18-hole layout is already prone to flood. See what’s on the table.

Lismore Workers Golf Club members are teed off about a suggestion that could see their cherished course become the flood-stricken city’s alternate CBD.

A discussion paper with council has floated the idea that the golf course land in East Lismore could be a suitable site to establish a second major commercial centre, or set up as a business and residential precinct.

The news has come as a shock to golf club members, who heard of the proposal only through chatter on social media.

“It’s hard to know what’s really going on,” club manager Brad Mott said.

While the club owns the land which takes in the carpark and clubhouse, the 18-hole course itself is on Crown Land.

Lismore Workers Golf Club course flooded on February 28, 2022.

The discussion paper suggests that preliminary feasibility, design and planning work be undertaken to determine whether the site of the Lismore Golf Course could be utilised as a future mixed-use commercial and residential hub.

The paper envisages that a new golf course could be created on high risk flood-prone residential land - fingered to be ‘depopulated’ - in North or South Lismore.

Lismore Workers Golf Club manager Brad Mott said the drain - that all the water currently flows through - is the reason the golf course rapidly floods during heavy rain.

Mr Mott said the suggestions were not palatable nor practical as “the bottom side (of the current golf course) floods pretty rapidly”.

“There would need to be some serious drainage work because we also get a lot of run-off from the housing estates above the course.”

Houses and a shed next to the Lismore Golf Course were inundated on May 28, 2022.

The club has some 650 golf members, and many more social members through the Lismore Workers Group network.

Mr Mott said the existing course had already copped a hammering from the elements.

“We do lose a lot of days from the weather (when the course is too wet),” he said.

“We’ve had so much rain this year - it’s not good.”

The clubhouse and carpark sits on land owned by the club but the golf course itself is on Crown Land.

The Lismore Golf Course is widely known as one of the finest in the Northern Rivers, along with Ballina, Byron Bay and Ocean Shores.

The complex includes a pro shop and cafe and the clubhouse offers extensive views of the hilly tree-lined fairways.

Framed by lush gardens and eucalypts, the course is home to koalas and spectacular bird life.